Ghostly Fright

by K E O'Connor

  Helen scowled at him and jammed her hands on her hips. “That is not funny, scaring two defenseless women like that.”

  Julius picked up the thrown spoon. “You weren’t completely defenseless. This spoon hurt. Besides, I have to try these costumes before the party to make sure they’re scary enough. This one certainly worked. Don’t you think it’s wonderful?” He did a slow turn, showing off the ragged clothing he wore.

  I shook my head. What was Julius doing lurking around so early? I was worried he might have overheard us discussing the suspects in Felicity’s murder. A more worrying thought hit me. Maybe he was checking on us because he was concerned his involvement was about to be revealed. I had asked Horatio a lot of questions last night. They could have spoken and Julius realized someone was onto him.

  “Why don’t you come in?” I said brightly. “We’re having breakfast and discussing our plans for the day.”

  Helen’s jaw dropped. “We’re not inviting a zombie in for breakfast.”

  “Lovely! I’ve not eaten yet. And you have croissants.” Julius strode in and grabbed the croissant Helen had so lovingly cut open and smothered in strawberry preserve.

  “Hey, that’s mine.” Helen went to grab it but stopped. “You’re filthy!”

  Julius looked at his hand and roared with laughter. “It’s not real dirt. It’s all part of the ambience of being a zombie. It’s stage paint. Very effective, isn’t it?” He munched on the croissant as he looked around the lounge.

  I closed the door and sat back on the couch, gesturing at a seat for Julius. He sat and accepted a cup of tea from me.

  After a moment of muttering under her breath, Helen joined us and helped herself to another croissant. She kept it on a plate on her lap and shot glares at Julius as if daring him to steal this one.

  “I was learning all about Fleur de Bloom yesterday,” I said to Julius. “Horatio told me he doesn’t know much about flowers, which is odd for someone with such a big stake in a horticultural business.”

  “He’s not the only one,” Julius said. “Before Felicity died, I had little to do with the place, other than offer useful advice. I couldn’t tell you how to grow a daisy, even if I had a step-by-step guide. I’ve always supported my niece, though. I admired her hard work. She could teach me a thing or two in that respect. I never enjoyed working in the City. I was glad when I had an opportunity to retire early and enjoy myself.”

  “Why not sell your stake and go live the high life on some tropical island?” I said.

  Julius laughed as he licked strawberry preserve from his fingers. “I have thought about it. In fact, I was thinking about selling in a year or two. Honestly, it doesn’t interest me. Flowers seem so girly, and I don’t have the experience to be more hands-on in terms of production. Zara’s got a decent handle on everything else. I was wondering about selling to Zara, since she’s so passionate about it.”

  “What’s stopped you from offering your stake to her?” I asked.

  “That’s a funny thing. I overheard her on the phone. Zara was discussing selling her own share of the business. I was so surprised. But if she wants out, I doubt she’ll be interested in buying me out of my share.”

  I was also surprised to learn this news. Zara seemed so fervent about making Fleur de Bloom a success.

  “Maybe she needs to move on,” Helen said. “Since Zara lost her best friend, she must struggle to love the business like she used to. That’s got to be tough.”

  “Sure, it’s tough. But money will always trump blooms. Zara’s a business woman at heart. If she gets a good offer, she’ll take it.”

  “That’s my point,” Helen said. “She needs a fresh start after such a tragedy.”

  I sat back and listened to Julius and Helen discuss the business. So far, most of the motives for wanting Felicity dead revolved around Fleur de Bloom. Everyone involved in the business needed looking into. All roads led back to the flowers.

  Maybe she’d done something to annoy a business partner, and they’d gotten rid of her. Her death seemed to be all about money. Someone wanted Felicity out of the way, so they could get their hands on her money and her share. That’s what I needed to focus on.

  Julius downed his tea and grabbed another croissant as he stood. “I won’t delay you any longer, ladies. I’m sure you’re looking forward to your first day working here. There’s lots to do to get this party swinging, but it’ll be lots of fun.” He winked at me and grinned at Helen as he left.

  “I do not like him.” Helen jumped up and plumped the cushions Julius had squashed. “First of all, he scares us with his stupid practical joke then he steals my croissant. And he didn’t say thank you. I baked those from scratch.”

  “You can’t hate him because he enjoys your croissants. You love it when people eat your food.”

  She thumped a cushion. “I can hate him because he’s rude, and he scared us. Put him at the top of our suspect list.”

  I grinned at her. “He’s definitely on the list. Maybe not at the top for now. But someone involved in this business wanted Felicity out of the way. We need to figure out who has the biggest reason for wanting Felicity dead. This has to do with her money and business interests. Once we figure that out, we’ll know who killed her.” I hopped up and hurried to the window to make sure Julius had really gone and wasn’t snooping on us. I saw him striding toward the house. We’d have to watch out for him and his practical jokes. I did not enjoy being scared. I got enough of that from real ghosts.

  I turned from the window and walked straight through Felicity. I groaned and sank to my knees, my teeth chattering as Flipper raced over and circled the ghost.

  I hated making direct contact with a ghost. It felt like being dipped in a bath of ice while drinking iced tea in an igloo in December, under twenty foot of snow, while wearing a bikini and no shoes.

  “Come on. Let’s get you up.” Helen was beside me, helping me back on my feet. “It looks like you’ve been properly spooked this time and not by some buffoon wearing a costume.”

  With chattering teeth, I accepted another mug of tea and sipped on it until the warmth returned to my fingers.

  I looked over to see Felicity hovering by the window, looking vaguely embarrassed that she’d just turned me into a walking popsicle.

  I gestured her over. “It’s fine. I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk murder and suspects.”

  Chapter 7

  Once my toes no longer felt like tiny ice cubes, I collected my thoughts about the suspects who wanted Felicity dead.

  “The more we learn about your death,” I said to Felicity, “the more likely it seems that somebody deliberately set those bees on you.”

  She nodded and frowned.

  “Let’s start with the least likely,” Helen said, “Zara and Barnaby.”

  “Why are they the least likely?” I asked.

  “Barnaby seems like a decent guy who doesn’t scare us by wearing dumb outfits. The same for Zara. She’s level-headed, nice to us, and doesn’t scare us.”

  “Plus, you’re not a fan of Julius.”

  Helen huffed out a breath. “You’ve got that right.”

  “Okay, let’s start at the beginning. Can you recall the night before you died? You fought with Barnaby,” I asked Felicity. “Could he have something to do with what happened? You spent a lot of time with him at dinner last night.”

  Felicity shook her head violently and pointed to the greenhouses.

  “Yes, that’s where you died,” I said. “Did Barnaby visit you in there a lot?”

  She shook her head again.

  “Were you having problems in your relationship?”

  I got another head shake.

  “Maybe you didn’t notice there were problems,” Helen said. “I hear you loved your plants. Could Barnaby have been unhappy because you didn’t pay him enough attention?”

  Felicity scowled at Helen.

  “She’s not convinced by that. It is odd that they were arguing before
she died, but couples do argue. That doesn’t mean he wanted her dead.”

  “I’m always bickering with Gunner, and he loves me to the moon and back. A healthy relationship has to involve the occasional row and then the obligatory make up session.” Helen waggled her eyebrows at me.

  “Indeed. How about Zara?” I asked Felicity. “Any problems with the business or things you weren’t agreeing on?”

  She shook her head again and weaved around the room, making it unpleasantly cold.

  “What about Julius?” Helen said. “He has to be the prime suspect. Any man who thinks it’s amusing to scare women has got to have something wrong with him.”

  I looked at Felicity and saw her nod. “You could be onto something. Do you think your uncle Julius is involved in your death?”

  Felicity vanished for a second before returning to the room with Helen’s purse in her hand. She dumped the contents on the floor and grabbed Helen’s money before flicking the notes around the room.

  “Hey! Stop that.” Helen grabbed her purse and stuffed the contents back in. “Keep your hands off my money.”

  I grinned as I watched Helen gather the crumpled notes. “I think Felicity’s telling us Julius is interested in money.”

  Helen picked up the last note and placed it back in her purse. “She didn’t have to dump the contents of my purse on the ground to tell us that.”

  I tilted my head as I looked at Felicity. “Could it be that Julius was after more than the money?”

  Helen settled back on the couch, her purse clutched to her side. “Do you think he was stealing from Felicity? Taking her things?”

  I looked at Felicity. “Was he?”

  She lifted both hands and shrugged. She pointed at Helen’s purse.

  “Or did you lend him money, and he didn’t pay it back? He spent it on something you didn’t approve of?”

  Felicity nodded.

  “Most likely on women,” Helen said.

  “Which is an excellent motive for wanting Felicity dead,” I said. “If Julius got in over his head with the amount he owed her, he might have thought it easier to kill Felicity and wipe out his debts rather than try to pay them back.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d done just that,” Helen said. “He’s not to be trusted.”

  “You need to cut him some slack. I agree the zombie outfit wasn’t funny, but he meant it as a joke.”

  “You’re right. It wasn’t funny.” Helen pulled out her cell phone. “Let’s do some digging into Julius Fleur. I’ll call Gunner and see if our zombie friend has a criminal record that includes dressing up like a fool and scaring innocent people.”

  “Is that even a crime?”

  “If it isn’t, it should be.” She speed-dialed Gunner and then sighed. “No reply. I bet he’s working.”

  “Isn’t he on some big case at the moment?”

  “He’s always on some big case,” Helen said. “That should still leave him time to pick up the phone when his darling wife calls.”

  I grinned. “Let me call Zach. He’ll know where Gunner is.”

  Zach answered on the first ring. “I was about to give you a call and see how everything is going.”

  “Things are interesting. We’ve met everyone here and looked around. You’d love the greenhouses.” Zach ran his own horticultural business and knew all about Fleur de Bloom. I’d already promised he could come to visit and take a look around.

  “That all sounds good, but I sense you’re not telling me everything. Let me guess. It has to do with things I can’t see and that make your toes numb.”

  “There might be one tiny ghost,” I said, deciding not to mention the many other ghosts lurking in the house. “We need your help with this one. Helen’s been trying to reach Gunner for some information on a suspect.”

  “You’ll have no luck with that. He was out before dawn. They had a break on the case he’s working. He didn’t say much about it, but it’s some big fraud case. What do you need from him?”

  “We think one of the suspects has a problem with money. We wanted Gunner to check to see if he had a criminal record for theft or fraud, something like that. Anything that gives him a good reason for killing our ghost.”

  “Check to see if he’s listed as being a big fat jerk, as well,” Helen said.

  Zach laughed as he heard Helen’s comment. “I take it this suspect isn’t Mr. Popular?”

  “He’s okay, just likes to joke around. He’s made us the target of his jokes.”

  “His unfunny jokes,” Helen said.

  “If you give me the details, I’ll pass them to Gunner when he comes in,” Zach said.

  “Give Zach everyone else’s name, as well. That way, we cover all the bases,” Helen said.

  “Fair enough. Who should I include?”

  “Zara, Luke, Julius, Barnaby, Horatio.” Helen listed all the people we’d encountered since arriving. “For all we know, we could be surrounded by criminals and have no clue. It has happened before.”

  “Why Luke?”

  “He was mean to us. He told us to mind our own business. You’re only that mean if you have something to hide.”

  “Okay, he can go on the list. So long as Gunner doesn’t mind the extra work. That’s a lot of names to check.”

  “If he knows I need it, he won’t mind.” Helen winked at me. “Gunner always does as he’s told.”

  Zach cleared his throat loudly. “Moving on.”

  I laughed and gave him the details of the suspects, and we chatted some more about the house and grounds.

  “Tell me more about the ghost,” Zach said. “What happened?”

  “You’ll be interested in this, actually. Her name’s Felicity Fleur. She used to run the horticultural business here.”

  “I know that name! She’s a superstar in the plant world.”

  “It sounds like she was something of a genius when it came to creating rare and hybrid plants.”

  “That’s right. She created the everlasting orchid and the three-six-five sweet pea. Her company guaranteed blooms every day of the year.”

  Zach sounded like he was fan-boying over our ghost. “Well, Felicity died because she was stung by bees.”

  “Wow, that is unusual. I mean, not so much being stung, that goes hand in hand with this sort of work, but to die from it. She wasn’t allergic?”

  “Not according to her family. She was found in her greenhouse.”

  “What did the police discover? Any foul play suspected?”

  “Nothing. They concluded it was an accident. We’re not sure about that.”

  “Bees are not a problem if you treat them with respect. Did she disturb a hive?”

  “No, they got into her greenhouse and stung her.”

  “Which would have been hard. With normal greenhouses, anything can come in and out if you don’t watch the door. I imagine the kind of greenhouses at Fleur de Bloom are state-of-the art. They’ll have filters to keep out pollinating insects.”

  “Apparently so. Bees were not welcome in her greenhouse.”

  “Yet a load got in and stung Felicity? She’d have known better than to agitate them. Bees sting once and die. She’d have had to rile them to get them to attack.”

  “Which is why we don’t think this was an accident.”

  “It was definitely bee venom that killed her?”

  “Yes, why do you ask?”

  “I know Fleur de Bloom handles exotic plants. Maybe she got in a new plant and didn’t realize she was exposing herself to something dangerous. Things like doll’s eye, sabi star, white snakeroot or the Mexican poppy can all be nasty if you don’t handle them correctly.”

  Unease stirred inside me. “Are you suggesting she was poisoned by a plant and not stung by bees?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but it seems more likely that something toxic got into her system that mimicked the effects of bee venom.”

  “Because you can’t train bees.” Helen sighed. “My bee circus will have to
stay a dream.”

  “Bee circus?” Zach asked.

  “It’s nothing. I’m no flower expert, but there were toxic plants in a separate greenhouse. Maybe one of the flowers you mentioned is in there.”

  “That’s possible. There are plenty of plants that are dangerous.”

  “Toxic plants were an obsession of hers.” I saw Felicity was listening to the call. “Could you have touched something that did this to you?”

  She shook her head and frowned.

  “I’d love to get a look at the toxicology report and see what Felicity had in her system,” Zach said.

  “Gunner can help with that,” I said. “Although, I don’t know what they screened her for. If they believed it to be bee venom that killed Felicity, they might have only tested for that to confirm its presence in her system.”

  “As soon as Gunner gets in, I’ll see what he can find out about Felicity’s death and this Julius guy, along with the others. Do I need to tell you to be careful?”

  “We will be. Helen is not a fan of Julius. She won’t let him anywhere near me.”

  Helen nodded. “Don’t worry, Zach. I don’t trust Julius as far as I can throw him. He won’t cause us any trouble.”

  Zach laughed. “I’m glad to hear you’re looking after Lorna.”

  Helen grinned. “Lorna can look after herself just fine, but I’m always here as a backup if she needs me.”

  “I’ll let you know what I find out as soon as I can,” Zach said. “You both stay safe.”

  We said our goodbyes, and I ended the call.

  It appeared our suspects were narrowing down. Julius was looking good for the murder, and Zach’s theory about it being plant poison, not bee venom that killed Felicity, was interesting.

  There was one problem; Julius knew nothing about plants. I doubted toxic plants were easy to handle without risking your own health. It would be a gamble to extract the poison and use it on Felicity if Julius didn’t know what he was doing.